Lady&#39;s safety pocketbook



Patented Nov. 20, W23.

THOMAS L. MONAGHAN, 0F NEVT YORK, N. Y.

LADYS SAFETY POCKETBOOK.

Application filed August 28, 1922. Serial No. 584,726.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TrioMAs L. MONA- GHAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Ladies Safety Pocketbook, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention has relation to pocketbooks or hand bags and aims for its principal object to afford safety means associated there with to prevent opening of the same without detection by apick-pocket or unauthorized person.

As a further object the invention contemplates in connection with a hand bag or pocketbook of the character described, means for normally holding the same in open condition when the owner desires to remove or place articles therein.

As a further object the invention contemplates a safety pocketbook or hand bag which is extremely simple in its construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and which is thoroughly reliable and highly efficient for the purpose for which it is intended.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a plan view of a hand bag or pocketbook equipped with a safety means constructed in accordance with the invention and illustrating the same in its open position.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken approximately on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference, 10 designates the body of a pocketbook or hand bag which is provided with frame jaws 11 and 12 having pivotal connection as at 13. The jaws are provided with any desired form of interengageable clasp elements 14: and 15 which serve to hold the same in closed position.

The safety means which constitutes. the

invention consists in providing one or more springs 16 which normally efiect the closing of the jaws and prevent the opening of the same without detection. The springs 16 may be applied in any desired manner and may be of any desired form, but as here illustrated the same consists of a single length of resilient wire which is formed with a medial coil 17 and a pair of arms or extremities 18 which are inserted within the jaws or connected thereto in any desired manner. The coils 17 are preferably disposed in axial alignment with the pivots 13 of the frame jaws. In order to provide means for holding the jaws in open condition against the action of the springs 17, the retaining bar 19 is employed which is pivoted as at 20 to one of the frame jaws and is provided at its opposite extremity with a notch 21 for engagement with the opposite frame jaw. When not in use the retaining bar 19 is designed to depend and hang within the body 10 of the hand bag.

I claim:

1. A safety pocketbook or hand bag ining of the frame jaws, and means-for holding the same open, comprising a bar pivoted to one of the frame jaws and adapted to extend across the mouth of the pocketbook and engage at its free extremity with the opposite jaw, said bar adapted when the jaws are closed to be swung to a position to lie within the body.

THOMAS L. MONAGHAN. 

